Traditionally, sausages have been made by filling the natural intestines of sheep or other animals with a sausage product whereupon the filled natural casing was formed into links for cooking. In more modern times, sausages are predominantly made by introducing an emulsion into an artificial casing, which encases the sausage material through linking and preliminary cooking. Machines for making sausages with artificial casings have a high volume capability (up to 30,000 sausages per hour). Efforts have been made to use these high-speed machines with natural casings. However, because of the nature of the natural casings including their relatively shorter and variable length and non-uniform diameter, modern sausage encasing machines have not achieved the volume and capacity with natural casings as they do with artificial casings.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,580 to Hergott et al. discloses a method and means for stuffing natural casings with sausage emulsion. Hergott et al. teaches the use of a slidable collar 28 that works in conjunction with a sensor 24A to position a natural casing 32 about the stuffing tube 14. As the natural casing 32 is stuffed with emulsion, collar 28 advances the natural casing 32 towards the twisting mechanism 16, which prepares the natural casing 32 for linking.
One disadvantage with conventional methods of stuffing natural casings with sausage emulsion, such as that taught by Hergott et al. above, is that the natural casing, as it is being stuffed with emulsion, does not easily advance towards the twisting mechanism. Typical methods will push the natural casing towards the twisting mechanism, which may cause the natural casing to become shirred as it approaches the twisting mechanism.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method and a machine for encasing sausages whereby the natural casing is uniformly shaped when stuffed with the sausage emulsion.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method and a machine for encasing sausages whereby the natural casing is advanced on the stuffing tube by a follower mounted on the stuffing tube and moved longitudinally by a longitudinally moving shaft connected thereto.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.